Poulenc, Szymanowski, Hindament & Prokofiev

There are so many composers that come out of this time in music history and all of them exhibit their own style and unique approach to music and composition. Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) is probably most famous for his quote, "Don't analyze my music, love it!". His Biggest and most influential piano piece was probably Les soirees de nazelles which are a set of 8 character pieces with a prelude and finale which last a total of approximately 30 minutes. All of his music for piano fits onto three CD's. Most of it is very pleasant and tonal, such as Napoli for example. It is a short 1:30 second piece with beautiful lines and pleasant tonalities.
Szymanowski (1882-1937) is somehow often forgotten in the mix of 20th century composers, yet he was arguably the greatest Polish composer since Chopin. He was heavily influenced by Scriabin, Strauss, Debussy, Stravinsky and Chopin. He has a very impressionistic sound and wrote some very lovely piano music including the Etude No. 4 which is a piece every pianist should learn!
Paul Hindament (1895-1963) was a well-known German composer. He believed that music shoulder be useful and functional. He believed in the "craft" of music verses the "mountaintop experience of music". In 1937 he wrote a very famous text titled, "The Craft of Musical Composition". In 1942 he took at position as professor at Yale University. His most famous piece for piano is most likely the Suite of 1922 which consists of 5 movements based on early 17th century dance styles. He said in his book, "Forget everything you have leared, and use the piano as an interesting percussion intrument".
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) is another legendary composer to come out of this time period. He wrote around 100 smaller pieces for the piano as well as some rather large ones. He was a neo-classical composer and his sonatas were in classical form. He displays a great sense of rhythm with a dry tones and often many faster notes in a row. He often uses motor rhythms to just keep the piece driving from the first note to the very last. His Piano Sonata No. 6 is a good example of typical Prokofiev style composition. It is very rigurous with fantastic progressions throughout.